-LRB- CNN -RRB- Brad Pitt has a solution to everyone who 's been tripped up by `` Selma '' star David Oyelowo 's name : Just sing it .

At the 2015 Palm Springs International Film Festival awards gala on Saturday , Pitt -- a `` Selma '' producer -- led the audience in a singalong of actor 's surname . Oyelowo , who was born in Britain , is the son of Nigerian immigrants .

`` In situations like this , I found it sometimes helps to sing it , '' he told the audience after their uncertain attempt to say the name .

`` O-yell , o-yell , o-yell , '' he started .

That did n't quite do the trick , so he tried a couple bars of Coldplay 's `` Yellow . ''

Awards presenters may be getting many chances to say `` Oyelowo . '' The actor has been nominated for several honors for his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. in `` Selma , '' including a Golden Globe , and he 's considered a leading candidate for a best actor Oscar .

As for the mispronunciations , people should n't feel too bad . Oyelowo told Jimmy Fallon that it 's not an easy name to say properly and that his father questions the accents in the Western pronunciation .

But , he added , that 's OK : His father has trouble with `` Oprah Winfrey '' and `` Steven Spielberg . ''

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David Oyelowo 's name has been hard to pronounce for some

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Brad Pitt 's solution ? Sing the name of the `` Selma '' star